Moving On
by Everybody-knows55
Summary: Will the Cullens ever be able to move on?
1. Hunt

**A/N: Sorry about the lack of movement with my Harry Potter fic, but the inspiration just wouldn't come, unlike this one, which came out of nowhere and hit me like a bolof lightning. Hope you all enjoy.**

Of course, we couldn't go to Charlie's funeral. Not in sight of humans, anyway. We, my family and I, watched and listened from the forest on the very edge of the Forks' cemetery. It was no problem for any of us, what with the super advanced audio-visual that we had. And, obviously, the reason we couldn't attend in person (per say) was that after forty years we hadn't changed at all. There was still not one grey hair on Carlisle's wise head, or one wrinkle on Esme's divine face. And that might just have given us away.

Edward's face took on 'that' look; the one he wore when he heard something that he didn't like, but before anybody could question him as to what was bothering him, we heard for ourselves.

"You would have thought that Isabella Cullen might have turned up today, of all days," Jessica Stanley's voice carried across the wind, and multiple pairs of eyes shifted towards me, "I mean, what type of daughter doesn't come to her own father's funeral, even if she did marry into a family rich enough to keep her away from home all this time?"

Low grumbling sounds we rumbling from quite a few chests, Emmett's was the fiercest, because Emmett was the fiercest, in my opinion anyway, and after all, she had just insulted his sister. Jacob's was more disbelieving, but a soothing hand on his muzzle from Renesmee calmed him quickly. Edward's was strangely unnatural, and visibly it concerned Jasper. But then he calmed them all down in his own special way, and no more was said about it, until another familiar voice floated along to us, this time belonging to Angela Weber, "Jess, I don't think that's a very fair thing to say, Chief Swan died pretty suddenly, and Bella's clearly somewhere quite far away, I'm sure she'd be here if she could"

It reminded me why I'd always liked Angela so much, because of course I wanted to be there, I just had to protect the secret.

There was a howling from behind us in the forest which startled a few of the humans present at Charlie's interment, but it was just the rest of Sam and Jacob's packs paying tribute to my wonderful dad.

While the humans trickled away for the wake, we stayed still where we were. As vampires we could have stood there for the rest of the decade as perfect statues; if the thirst didn't kill us. And then Jasper put an arm around Alice, who looked like she was struggling with her emotions.

"He was such a nice guy" she said quietly, "I wish you could have turned him into one of us Carlisle"

Carlisle's eyes were grave as he answered, "I would have liked that. But I couldn't, and we already have quite enough of us to be going on with"

"No" Edward replied sharply, to a mental question, turning towards Rosalie, "We can't leave yet. Renesmee and Jacob"

Rosalie's perfect eyes narrowed a little, but she didn't hiss any of the insults at Jake that she would have done a few decades ago. Decades that felt like seconds. Decades in which we'd had to stay, hiding in Forks, because of the connection between my daughter and my best friend. It had not been an easy time; we'd sent postcards home from around the world, to make it look like there was a reason that we'd not been able to come back, but the most difficult part was being so close to Forks, and good friends like Angela, but unable to show myself. Even in his wolfish form Jake looked guilty, since he was essentially the reason that we couldn't move on and start over.

"Time to go" Esme said, her voice more beautiful than the wind chimes that it reminded me of, "We've been here long enough"

It didn't feel like my family were intentionally avoiding me, although I myself was sort of avoiding Jasper; I didn't want the pain of my dad's death numbed, but neither did I want to force him to experience it.

Jacob ran along back to the house with is, the strange black blurs that we left as we hurtled through the forest would have been unbelievably dizzy for any human watching.

When we reached back home the family took on its usual evening habits, since sleep was unnecessary. Carlisle wedged the door of his study open (ever ready to listen to troubles) and took a massive tome, in Ancient Greek, down from his extensive collection. Esme tinkered away at the piano, humming an indescribably beautiful melody as her lithe fingers worked magic on the ivory keys. Jasper and Alice lay entwined on the bed in Alice's room, their breathing was slow, and he murmured words which she might have missed if she'd been human, but which I caught anyway, "I love you" I decided to duck out of their clearly private moment. I checked on Rosalie in the garage; she was surely the world's most stunning mechanic. Emmett lay sprawled across one of the sofas, his attention captivated entirely by a sport's match of some description. Well, not entirely. A vampire's mind is so much more compartmentalised than a humans; while his current focus was the television, millions of other things were undoubtedly running through his head. My own personal wonder, my husband, the father of my child was cooking. Although us fully fledged vampires clearly had no need of the fillet mignon that Edward was cooking, our constant house guest, Jake, and the other wonder in my life, Nessie, did enjoy eating. For Jacob it was necessary, for Nessie it was something different from deer or elk.

"I know, Nessie. Extra, extra, extra rare" Edward replied, eyeing her with amusement, "I got that the first thirty of forty times" Nessie and Jacob sat on the bar stools pulled up to the kitchen counter as Edward prepared their dinner. His honey gold eyes flicked towards me and he smiled. I was four decades into this life and I still hadn't entirely come to grips with the fact that that smile was a constant factor, wasn't ever going away. My thoughts were rudely interrupted by the sound of Jake bolting down his steak with unhealthy speed. Nessie sat, totally composed, using her knife and fork to slice up her steak, ignoring her wolf. The words still stung a little bit. Once upon a time Jacob had been mine. My sunshine. And then he imprinted on my baby. I wasn't jealous, I'd never begrudge Nessie anything, it's just that she always seemed that little bit higher up on Jake's agenda than I was. But, of course, I was being silly. I had Edward! How could I think that anything was missing?

Alice glided down the stairs in her ordinary graceful manner, and I noted that her eyes were the same shade of black as mine. We were both thirsty, and by the eager look in her eyes we'd be eating, drinking, very well tonight. "Northern California" she said, excitedly, "We're having lion for dinner tonight" Then she clapped her hand over her mouth, "Sorry Edward, I know it's your favourite"

Edward smiled again, "Don't be silly, go, have fun, take Rosalie with you" Edward hated hunting with me anyway, mountain lions or no mountain lions.

"I'm coming, I'm coming" Rosalie called out from the garage, in her version of a grumble. The sound was still more beautiful than a songbird's call. "Do you want to run, or drive?"

I looked expectantly towards Alice, who'd know the answer, and who murmured, "Okay let's not get into a big fight over this, girls"

Emmett, listening in, snickered in a way that only he could.

"We're running" Alice called out, and Rosalie huffed, irritated that the chance to drive fast was being stolen from her.

"Carlisle, Esme" I said, no louder than the voice I'd use in regular conversation, "Alice, Rosalie and I are off hunting. We're staying on the continent, and we'll be back soon"

Carlisle's reply was no louder than my speech, and I caught every word of it, "Take care. Hurry back. We love you"

I kissed Nessie's shiny hair, touched my fingertips to Edward's face, muttered a goodbye to Jake, and suddenly I was flying along through the dusk, next to my sisters, doing what I was born to do. Not hunt, although my proficiency in this particular area had improved one hundred fold since my first elk, I meant being a vampire.

Even above the howling wind Alice, Rosalie and I were creating I could still hear the signs of life in the forest all around me. Tiny insects scuttling across leaves, little rodents hiding from predators, predators that were becoming wary of us. But by the time that the animals had a chance to react, we'd moved on, out of their territory.

It seemed all too short a journey to California, even though I knew we'd just crossed the entire United States of America without stopping for breath (breath that was unnecessary anyway)

And Alice, being as potent as she was, led us to exactly the right spot for our hunt. Mountain lions were somewhat of a menace in California, so I was glad that I was doing them a service when my razor sharp teeth tore the skin from the lioness' throat and severed the most major artery of her body. She fell, limp, to the ground and I drained her dry, the thirst quenched, but the fire by no means put out. After forty years of hunting practise, there wasn't a single spot of blood on either the black silk skirt (slit very high) or pink blouse that I wore. Looking around I saw Alice and Rosalie looking equally contented and composed. Of course, I looked through a vampire's eyes; if an unfortunate human had chanced upon us, he or she would have seen three deathly pale yet beautiful women (two more beautiful than the other) with golden eyes, crouched over the drained carcasses of three mountain lions, and one of those impossibly perfect women (Rosalie) was still licking the last traces of blood from her lips. "Ah" Alice sighed, happy and relaxed, "I see why Edward loves them so much" I was still with Emmett on this one; a grizzly was a better hunt, and, in my opinion, tasted better. Nothing would ever taste as good, however, as human blood, and since I had absolutely no desire whatsoever to suck a human dry, and since Carlisle's stock of donated blood was for emergencies of the medical persuasion, the grizzly bears just had to do.


	2. Home

**A/N: I forgot to disclaim with the first Chapter, but I think it's pretty evident that I'm not Stephanie Meyer. And also, I'm trying to keep this vaguely short, I don't think I've got the energy to make it into a feature length novel, or whatever, but I'm making no promises on the actual length; if I can keep my imagination in check, I think it'll be about fifteen chapters. Enjoy. **

Did you enjoy?" Nessie asked, curled up next to her Uncle Emmett on the sofa. The picture was so very sweet, Emmett's strong forearm cradling his niece's shoulder, her brown curls falling haphazardly yet divinely over the very same shoulders, and Jacob beneath the two of them, radiating a scent that I still registered but that disturbed me much less now. That was what having a werewolf in the house constantly did, I supposed.

"They all did great" Edward replied, irritatingly looking into Alice's mind, "I must say Bella, I think I've been missing something, not coming out to hunt with you. You look supremely beautiful crouched over that lioness" Forty years of non-blushing hadn't stopped Emmett from knowing when to make a joke at my expense, "Oh, Bella, I think you'd better watch out! He said that with a greedy look in his eye, and we all know what _that _look means" Nessie dug her elbow into Emmett's granite hard torso, which of course, didn't produce any effect from him, but she still complained, "Ew, Em, that's horrible! They're my parents"

Emmett grinned widely, his mission complete. Then he looked to Rosalie with the same look in his eyes, and she shot up the staircase in a move that less sensitive eyes would have missed. Emmett gave her barely half a second before following at the same lightening pace. Nessie, Jacob, and Edward sighed in unison, "Oh, brother"

I narrowed my eyes in a look that I'd borrowed from Rosalie, "I wish they wouldn't do that. She's so young, and it's setting an entirely wrong example" Edward placed his hands on my wrists, which calmed me instantly, "Bella, you are going to have to let go some day. She's a grown up too, just like you or I. And don't worry about Rose and Emmett, they're a married couple, they have every right to-" Edward caught himself, far too old-fashioned to say the 'S-E-X' word in front of his daughter, even if she was physically as old as him.

"Dad, give over!" she said, lying the full length of the sofa now that Emmett's bulk wasn't obstructing it, "I am forty years old, for the love of all that is holy! I should really be granted some reprieve soon" Even to me, her mother, Nessie calling Edward 'Dad' was a tiny bit strange. From the look of them they could have very nearly been twins. Nessie had looked fifteen going on sixteen when she'd stopped maturing, and Edward was his ever perfect immortal seventeen year old self.

There had been a discussion when Nessie had reached her physical maturity, just shy of her seventh birthday, a discussion between Edward and Jacob about his imprinting on Nessie. It seemed that Jake had been having some unconscious thoughts about my seven year old daughter, in a way that Edward deemed inappropriate. And so, an agreement had been made that Jake would only EVER be a friend and brother to Nessie; never anything more. Nessie had tried to throw a teenage tantrum, tried to reel off every line in the book, "It's my body, I can do what I like with it", "I'm old enough to take care of myself" and the slightly less orthodox, "He's my soulmate, and I never chose for that to happen, so just deal" but her Uncle Jasper had been in the room and she's been nothing short of mellow. That had been about thirty three years ago, and since neither of them was going anywhere anytime soon they seem to have dropped the rebellion and settled for brother and sister, which pleased almost everyone. Almost, but not quite. No, Rosalie was being her usual impatient self, and wanted to start our new life away from Forks. To be honest, I saw her point. Jake would always be imprinting on Nessie, and if that was the case then we'd never be able to leave. Jake had suggested once that we take him with us when we moved, but it was Carlisle that pointed out that Seth and Leah, and Quil and Embry would be lost without their leader. Which put an idea into my head, an idea so simple that I was surprised that somebody else hadn't come up with it before me.

"Carlisle" I said quite softly (everybody would hear me anyway) up the stairs, "We should take all of them with us" It is a credit to Carlisle as a father that he knew exactly what I was talking about, "I'm coming down Bella, wait a second"

I tasted the dust that filled the air as he put away his book, a gift from Aro many, many years ago. And he made his way down the stairs into the living room, followed by Esme, who was practically floating she was so full of grace.

"Hmm" Carlisle murmured thoughtfully, "It had crossed my mind, but I thought that they might not want to come, to be away from their territory, their birthright"

"She might have a point" Edward interceded, reading his father's thoughts, as well as my words, "It is time that we started afresh, it would be a good change"

"Hey, what's going on?" Nessie and Jacob asked simultaneously, giggling stupidly even though they spoke in chorus sixty percent of the time. A loud bang from the floor above only served to fuel their hysteria.

"Keep it down please Emmett?" Jasper asked, as Nessie shook with immature silent laughter. Edward's face clearly expressed what I felt, 'This is why she is not ready for the 'S' word'

"Will do, bro" Emmett replied, a complete lack of sincerity in his voice.

"What's all of this about?" the weariness in Jacob's voice plainly asked if this was another vampire thing that the werewolf just wouldn't understand. "No, honestly Jacob" Edward assured, "This is just as much to do with you as it does with the rest of us, perhaps more" The weariness was not being alleviated, I could see it in his face. Nessie patted his hand comfortingly, whilst Carlisle explained my ingenious, yet highly simple plan. It went as follows; Let people of Forks know that we're dead (car crash, house fire, deadly spider bites, or whatever works); say goodbye to Sam's pack and thank them for all their help over the past years; get everyone, including Quil, Embry, Seth and Leah, all packed up; get some nice forged documents; fly to Canada, or some place equally cold and drizzly where we'd be safe, and all re-start High School.

I personally thought that the hardest part of the entire plan would be re-starting High School. Although Edward, Alice, Rosalie, Jasper and Emmett had gone through the education system countless times, and had amassed goodness-only-knows how many high school diplomas between them, I had only done it once and felt that it was enough. My lucky daughter had never been forced into the torture of a Calculus class; she'd done all her learning very early, and if it couldn't be learned from her grandfather, well then, was it really worth learning at all? While I wrestled to get to grips with being a freshman again, most other people were still trying to get a handle with taking Jake's pack with us. Nessie looked pretty exhilarated, it was as if all the different strands of her life were coming together for the first time ever. Beside her, Jacob seemed more anxious and we all knew what the problem was; Leah. Seth would be 'psyched'- as he put it- to travel halfway across the globe with us, and Quil and Embry would follow where Jacob went, but would Leah fit into my plan? Despite all her maternal instinct for Seth, after all this time she still had a problem with the fact that we were vampires. The only time I ever heard the words 'leech' or 'bloodsucker' were from her thoughts, or words; the others had long grown out of the prejudice.

"Well, I think it's a great idea" Alice said firmly, which meant that Jasper would automatically be up for it, "We've been hiding out here far too long, and I knew we'd find a way around the imprinting thing"

"Sorry about the inconvenience" Jake replied, ambiguously, since the sarcasm was clouding any apology in his voice. Alice smiled her pixie smile, the one that made her look even younger than she already did, and said, "Be grateful. We're keeping you and Nessie together, Nessie and us together, and you and your pack together. I have a true genius for a sister"

"She's my wife" Edward said proudly, glowing more brightly than any undead person had the right to.

"Yeah, yeah, Bells is a genius" Jake echoed quickly, "Just shut that up now, before it goes to her head"

"I think we're beginning to spiral a little off topic" Esme said reasonably, with no other tone in her voice than 'motherly'

Rose glided down the stairs at this point, followed by what should have been Emmett effectively stomping, with his weight, but no, even he managed it light as a ballerina. "We're with Bella" Rosalie announced, standing in Emmett's shadow, "And Emmett likes the sound of Canada too, lots of bears" Emmett winked at me, and I instantly felt better; it always felt like a battle was won when Emmett was onside.

"I still don't know" Jacob said, wounding Nessie, "I don't think Leah's going to buy it. If it was just you and me, Nessie honey, then we'd be in Canada right now, but I've got other people to consider" Nessie glared up at Jake from underneath her thick eyelashes, and Rosalie smiled indulgently; it was easy to see who Renesmee was getting lessons from. "Of course" Jacob tacked on hurriedly, running one of his unnaturally hot fingers across Nessie's cheek, "You're always my first and most important priority. Always" Nessie seemed a little placated by this, and then announced, "My vote's cast. I assume Mom's is for Canada, plus Em, Rose, Jasper and Alice. Even if Jake, Dad, Carlisle and Esme move against, we're still going to Canada!" She let out a peal of laughter, like the bells ringing at a wedding. Her good mood was practically infectious, and soon the only person who wasn't optimistic about moving away was Jake. His fears, in my opinion, were completely justified. It was he, after all, that had to go and tell his pack that they were moving to Canada. Well, it wasn't the 'pack' that was the issue, it was one in particular. Leah. And no one knew what the outcome would be. Alice was flying blind, since the whole matter was centered entirely around the wolves, but we knew one thing for certain. There was no way it was going to end prettily.


	3. Leah

**A/N: I've kind of got the Twilight bug at the moment, hence so much writing. I even took my little sister to see the movie (gasp shock horror) which would never have happened before said movie was released. The wonders of the silver screen.**

**Disclaimer: Not mine, which I have to deal with. Darn**

"I don't see why we should have to move halfway across the continent for a bunch of bloodsuckers" Leah spat, and Rose grew more visibly irritated by the second. I wondered if Jasper was ever going to step in and calm things down, or whether he, like me, was intrigued as to who would win if it came down to a fight between Leah and Rosalie. Although she would never show it, Esme was a little bit hurt that a guest was being so rude, when were we all making such a tangible effort to be agreeable. For instance, Jacob had agreed to tell his pack at our house, in human form, so that we could hear what they thought, and therefore Edward didn't need to act as a translator. Since we'd learnt to live side by side in a harmonious enough fashion ages ago, there was no other real tension. Except for the whole, moving thing. Seth, predictable as he was, had no objections from the off, "It'll be great" he babbled, ecstatic that there was the opportunity for a new hunting ground, and perhaps a nice Canadian girl for him to imprint on. "Steady on, little friend" Edward warned, "There'll be plenty of time for you think about girls in the future. We're not moving to Canada to improve your chance of scoring" There were bubbles of laughter from all sides, but Seth looked so offended at the indignity of it all, that we all sobered up and tried to take him seriously. I couldn't view him as anything other than the still vaguely gangly teenage boy who was lolling before me, which of course made it difficult.

Jacob's eyes passed over to Quil and Embry, who nodded, and replied, "If that's where the pack's moving to, we're with you. Especially if it keeps Nessie close" The werewolves were just as infatuated with my charismatic daughter as my own family was. Which left Leah as the only problem. We hadn't needed Alice's ability to see that one coming. "No" she refused stubbornly, "This is the place you were born to protect, Jacob Black, and it's the place that I'll continue to protect, no matter what" Jake sighed, and tried to approach the subject from another angle, "Leah, she's my family" he said, gesturing towards Nessie, "And so are you lot" he continued, sweeping his arms to motion her, her brother, Quil and Embry, "And if there's one thing in this whole world that I'd like the best, it'd be to keep you all close to me, so I can keep you all safe. And obviously I want to stay here, to stay close to La Push, but at times like this compromise is inevitable, and I think that this is a good one"

"Oh, just force her" Seth said exasperatedly, seeing the hard look in Leah's eyes, which clearly showed that she wasn't going to be changing her mind any time soon. "No," Edward replied, an edge of sharpness in his voice, "Jacob would never take any person's freedom from them, Leah must come to this decision for herself" Whilst Jake looked gratefully at Edward for explaining the situation so clearly and articulately to Seth, Leah glared at him, irritated that he was fighting her corner. Even ever optimistic Esme could see that this situation was not working out, "Perhaps we should leave Leah to consider her options for a while, to put things straight in her mind?" she said calmly, and Leah's blazing eyes now turned to her, letting her know in no uncertain terms that she did not appreciate her help. "That sounds like a good idea" Jasper replied, taking Alice by her delicate wrist, and leading her towards the stairs. The room cleared slowly, by vampire standards; the look in Nessie's eyes trying to convey upon Leah that she was sorry that she was causing this situation. Her father put an arm around her petite shoulders and comforted her, "Renesmee, none of this is your fault, do you understand? We will find a solution to this that suits everyone, I promise" Nessie didn't look particularly reassured by these words, and was even less comforted by Leah's unkind snort. Edward ignored her, and chivvied Nessie along to the piano, so that he could hear her play.

Rosalie and I went outside; though I would never be as close to her as I was to Alice, there was no denying that with Nessie's birth, and my rebirth, that we had become much closer, sisters as well as friends. "Stupid werewolf" Rosalie said in her most ungentle tone, even though I could tell that her aim was to support me, "Honestly Bella, she's just being selfish, everyone else can see that it's a wonderful plan" I, like Carlisle, was having my own doubts now; there didn't seem to be anything in the world that would convince Leah that this plan was the most convenient thing, for the majority of people. Rosalie and I took a stroll, probably quite fast by human standards, but for her and I it was the equivalent of tortoise pace. It was peaceful mostly, and we headed towards the river, where we sat, quietly, listening to all the sounds of nature around us, like the splashing of the river and the whisper of the wind in the trees.

No time at all seemed to have passed before Edward was calling to us from the house, "Bella, Rosalie? Are you two going to come in any time this year?" Time, for me at least, had absolutely no significance in my life whatsoever, since it stretched out almost infinitely before me. I'd been too much of a klutz in my previous life to bother with a watch; I'd probably have managed to cut off the circulation to my hand, or something equally unlikely, and so I'd never bothered with one as a vampire either, but I caught the time from a radio station of a car passing by on the freeway, "It's 9:59 now folks, so time to wind down for the night" The fact that Rosalie and I had been gone for four hours didn't particularly matter; I'd not noticed the time passing in the slightest, which is always a good way to regulate anxiety when the possibility of your future lies in someone else's hands. Rosalie and I made our way back to the house with much more speed than we'd left, desperate to know what sort of outcome we were facing.

There wasn't much settling to be done in the living room; the atmosphere was almost saturated, mostly with worry and anticipation. It didn't take long for everyone to be assembled, and Edward's face was smooth, Leah's thoughts seemingly disconnected from the matter at hand. Maybe that was why she was humming a waltz, to keep her mind away from what she was about to tell us. "Okay everybody, I think that Leah feels like she's had enough time to figure out the available options and now she'd like to discuss them with us" Carlisle announced. Leah took the floor, so to speak, breathing in deeply, and beginning, "Jake can't go without us, because we're his pack; that's an established fact. Jake doesn't want to leave Renesmee behind, and as much as I want to discredit it, that's also a fact" Leah was decidedly not supplying us with any solutions, which Rosalie was about to point out, before Edward held up a hand to stop her. A murderous glance passed between Leah and Rose, before Leah continued, "And the reason why Jake doesn't want to be without her is because of the imprinting thing, right?" There were murmurs of assent among us; nobody saw where this was going. I noticed that Alice's eyes, like mine and Jasper's, flicked towards Edward to try to decipher his face, but it was blank. Almost too blank, like he knew something he didn't think we should know. "And the imprinting thing is because Jake is a wolf, right?" she questioned, looking towards Carlisle. He nodded, almost indiscernibly. Could _he _see the direction this was going in? "So, if Jake was no longer a wolf…?" she trailed off, leaving us to fill in the blank for ourselves. If Jake wasn't a werewolf, there wouldn't be the connection between he and Nessie, and we'd be free to leave.

There was silence for the briefest of seconds, before Jake replied, calmly, but firmly, "No." That was it; one word, one syllable, two letters. "Jacob refuses to leave Nessie, imprinting or not" Edward supplied, articulating the stony glint in Jake's eye, "And I think that he's right" he added. Nessie looked up, the look of mortification that she'd been wearing blurring to gratefulness towards her father. Edward and I didn't like the imprinting situation, there was no contradicting that. But we also couldn't refuse to believe the happiness that Jake and Nessie provided one another with, and I'd give up my (relatively) new found immortality, before doing anything that would make her unhappy. "No" Jacob repeated, apparently still in a state of semi-shock that Leah had suggested such a thing. "What about Quil?" Leah demanded, livid that her suggestion wasn't going down well, "What about Claire? Are you asking him to leave her?" It was a point that I hadn't considered, and I turned to look at Quil to see what his reaction would be. "Well" he started slowly, "If there weren't any vampires in Forks, then they'd be no need for werewolves" Shockingly, it seemed that Quil was suggesting that he'd be willing to live without Claire, but then he caught the expression on my face. "No Bella, I'd stay in La Push with her, and once I start ageing again, it'll be fine"

"But you're going to be sixteen, and she'll be forty three" Alice gasped, horrified.

"Talk about robbing the cradle" Emmett added, the mood hardly appropriate for this calibre of joke. Leah looked wildly to Embry, to see if he'd back her up. He looked pensive for a few moments before announcing, "I'd like to stay here too. Go back to being human" Seth was Leah's last lifeline, which horrified her. "Sorry sis" he said softly, "I want to go to Canada. I want to be near Jake and Nessie and the Cullens" That was Leah's final line of defence, and it was as broken as her resolve.

Without another word, she sprinted towards the front door, phasing halfway through it, without bothering to remove her clothes. The torn garments lay tattered on the floor. We all stared at them, disheartened. And then came the howl. Bitter, full of anger, more anger than should rightly be contained in one person. And then the howl softened and became one of betrayal. That was too much for Nessie to handle, and her petite body racked with sobs which even Jacob couldn't stop. I think that the last howl was too much for everybody, Rosalie included, because after that the rest of the night passed by in silence, punctuated only by the sound of Nessie's tears splashing to the floor, and Leah's prolonged, but heart-wrenching howl.


	4. Plan

**A/N: Sorry, again, about the lateness of this chapter again, but so much to do!! Places to go, people to see, and all. Hope you enjoy xxx**

As dawn broke our silence broke also, as Carlisle placed a world map on the coffee table in the living room. He sat down in front of it, and studied it intently, as if in deep contemplation. He didn't call us to him, but one by one we congregated around him, like moths drawn to a candle. I noted that little black crosses filled most of the map. "All of the places Carlisle has lived" Edward said, reading in the expression on my face that I was intrigued as to what they represented. It was as I had thought, and it was of no surprise to me that nearly seventy five percent of the map was covered.

When we had all surrounded Carlisle he cleared his throat, and began gently, "Now that we now that we are going, we're left to decide where to go" Edward's face screwed up in pain, as I imagine that everybody in the room had mentally shouted out their suggestion of where to make our new home. No suggestions of the Bahamas or St. Tropez, I guessed. No, something much gloomier, less sunny. That was, of course, why I had suggested Canada.

"I'd like to go to Scotland" Jasper said, surprising everybody except Edward, "We always stay in America, and there's so much more of the world to explore"

"Like England, a tiny little island in the middle of some ocean, somewhere" Emmett asked scornfully. A look of anger that I'd never seen before flashed across Carlisle's face, "Scotland is _not _in England" he said firmly, emphasising the 'not' significantly, "It is a separate country, the same way Canada is a separate country from the United States" Emmett rolled his golden eyes towards the ceiling. "I don't want to go to Scotland" Nessie said, in a quiet voice, drying the last of her salty tears, "Going to Britain would be weird, they'd make fun of my accent"

"And" Rosalie added fiercely, "The education system over there is totally different. I don't mind going to school, but I don't actually want to have to do any work" So, it seemed that Scotland was out, the surprising suggestion that it was.

"I still like the sound of Canada" Emmett interjected, flopping down onto a sofa and pulling Rosalie onto his lap. He swept his hand over the great mass of land that denoted Canada on the map, smiling. I knew him plenty well enough to know that he was contemplating all the bears. "Canada is rather a large place, Emmett dear" Esme said gently. Like all good parents, neither Carlisle nor Esme ever favoured one of their children above the others. But Edward was Carlisle's favourite, his first companion, and rightly too, so I didn't begrudge him that. Differently, I could tell that Esme would have favoured Emmett, if it had been proper. I didn't know why, and since I wasn't a particularly jealous person, I didn't mind, I was just intrigued as to her particular brand of love for him.

"How about there?" Alice asked, pointing to a tiny little town, maybe even a village, in upstate New York, in the middle of a forest, by the looks of it, "Lake Placid" The way she said it was like she was rolling it over her tongue, trying it on for size almost. "I couldn't tell you what it's like there" Carlisle said worriedly, "It's one of the places that I've never been. New York City, plenty of times. But never there"

"Well," Edward reasoned, "It's remote, probably a town no bigger than this. It's inside some type of reserve, or forest, which will be good for Jacob and Seth. As long as the climate isn't too different from here, I don't see why it should be a problem" Everyone else had done this so many more times than I had, I felt slightly inadequate. I hadn't realised there were so many conditions to take into account when starting afresh with a vampire family. "What do you think, Bella?" Carlisle asked. I had hoped to sit this conversation out, to hide my blatant lack of expertise in this area, but Carlisle, nothing if not thorough, would never have made such an important decision without consulting all of us first. "Hmm" I replied, completely stuck as to what to say, "It'd be nice for Nessie to stay in the U.S.A for a bit longer, I wouldn't want to expose her to unnecessary taunting in Britain. And, as long as it isn't too sunny, I suppose it'd be alright" By simply paraphrasing what everyone else had said, I was in no danger of adding something completely stupid, and further highlighting my lack of knowledge. "Emmett wants to know if they'll be any bears" Edward said drily, not impressed by Em's tenacity in this particular area. "I'm not sure. As I said, it's a place yet unexplored by me" Carlisle replied, stroking his smooth chin, "And it's probably not the most pressing matter at hand" he added, smiling.

"That" Jasper stepped in smoothly, to fill the minute gap in conversation, "Would be documents, I believe. I'll need a little time to sort those out" The talk of false documents took me back forty years, to a time when I'd thought that I'd lost my baby forever. J Jenks' clear terror of Jasper, who I considered the gentlest (next to Carlisle) of my family, even with his slightly dodgy history, and his reverence of the newly beautiful me, made me smile still. "We'll need passports, birth certificates, driver's licenses, social security cards, and insurance documents"

Talk of all such documents naturally led to the formation of a new cover story. "Well, who'd like to start?" Carlisle asked, like the presenter of a television game show. It seemed a well trodden tradition to Esme, Rose, Emmett, Edward, Alice and Jasper, and it was Alice that jumped up and began to plot the course of our lives. Jasper produced a pen and paper from somewhere, in order to write down what Alice said, not for his perfect vampire re-call, but to aide the human that was going to have to do all the hard work.

"So" Alice began excitedly, "We've got Carlisle and Esme as our foster parents, as usual, then we've got the youngest foster daughter, that's you Nessie" she added, pointing out the daughter who was now my sister, sitting opposite me, "Then, we've got our usual twins, Rose and Jasper" At this, Rose's shoulders slumped, as if asking why she always got lumped with Jazz, but Alice was speeding onwards, "And I think that Bella, Emmett and I can all get away with being biologically related; Bella and Emmett could even be another set of twins" A sense of foreboding filled me; as much as I loved Emmett, being his twin sister was going to be no walk in the park, "And then there's Edward" Alice finished simply, the basic introductions done. She was just steeling herself to describe the nitty gritty of each of our personal histories, when Seth cleared his throat, loudly and deliberately, "And what are we, Alice?" he demanded, meaning himself and Jake, "Chopped liver?" Alice look shocked at herself. "Oh, sorry Seth, I'm not used to planning for extras. Well, you'll need documents and stuff, and we'll sort out a house for you, but, to be honest, you don't really look much like our family. And, it's your choice whether or not you guys want to go back to High School, or wherever; we could always just bump your ages up a bit, and get you fake diplomas" Again, things were getting complicated. It was decided that all the wolves' necessary arrangements would be made once all our plans were in place, and that way there'd be the least possible confusion.

And that's how we came to spend most of that day negotiating the following information: Renesmee would be able to pass for a twelve year old in the seventh grade, as would Alice, if she tried really hard. Jasper, Edward and Rose would try to revert to fourteen year olds in the eighth grade, asking them to act thirteen was just cruel. And then, Emmett and I, now the eldest twins, would be the fifteen year old freshmen, with an exceedingly early birthday, seemingly. I just hoped that in a town clearly so small that the junior high and the High School would be connected; if I had to struggle through lessons with Emmett every day, I'd at least like to be able to see my husband at lunch. Passports showing that not even Carlisle (realistically starting at twenty seven years old) had been born in the year 2000 were necessary, and driving licenses for only he and Esme were needed; Emmett and I would be able to start chauffeuring our 'younger' siblings around next year. And, of course, junior high diplomas were also necessary for he and I, to prove that we hadn't flunked out of the eighth grade. Without even bringing Seth and Jacob into the equation, we were looking at hundreds and thousands of dollars worth of forged documents. Carlisle didn't even blink when Jasper gave him a rough estimate of how much he thought we'd need to get us all set up for our new life: $800 000. He simply handed Jasper an official looking piece of paper, and gave him the name of a bank in Seattle where he'd be able to procure the money.

Jake and Seth had been writing down their own requirements on a scrap of paper whilst we'd been having our discussion; they seemed to have settled on Seth as a seventh grader as well, and bizarrely, Jake would play his dad. I could see it though; Seth was young looking, and Jake could easily pass for thirty.

It took the entire day for everybody's individual needs to be tailored, during which Alice delighted in giving us the blandest possible personal histories, so as not to draw attention to ourselves. She clearly didn't realise that the out-of-this-world beauty, gold and black eyes, deathly cold and pale skin, and ridiculous wealth were all counting against us, when it came to being conspicuous.

"I think that you, Jacob and I ought to go and take a look at this place, before we start buying property" Edward said to Carlisle, demonstrating the pragmatic eldest son approach. Nobody else wanted to deal with the responsible things, we were all too excited that for the first time in forty years, we'd be able to get out, see different scenery, and try a new variety of hunting. "There'd better be bears" grumbled Emmett, threateningly. Rose whacked him.


End file.
